nickwood

Having completed the cassettes and played trains for a while, my thoughts have now turned to improving Much Murkle's presentation in the hope that I might one day get that elusive first exhibition invite. Truth is that I have spent more time when visiting exhibitions this year looking at the presentation of layouts more than the layouts themselves. I have always intended that MM would have a deep fascia to the front and side with integral lighting but I have been struggling with the design of a cantilevered structure to support it. It wasn't until I saw Moor Street at Railex earlier this year who's fascia and lighting was supported by spur shelving that a solution came to mind. I had the good fortune recently that my wifes employer were getting of some spur shelving and there was just enough for what I needed and I got it FREE, result !! I've made a start, six upright slots are bolted to the baseboards, inset 70mm from the end of each board. The biggest problem was getting them aligned so that the slots were completely level in relation to each other. Lucky I have a laser level then Two of the uprights Bolted to the baseboard, they are surprisingly strong. The brackets which slot in. I drilled two holes through the side of the first bracket and then used this as a jig clamped to the others to ensure that the holes were all in the same position. I had a number of hardboard strips cut to exactly 100mm wide, left by some roofers when they laid the flat roof on my garage extension last year. I knew they would come in handy some day. I cut them into 600mm lengths and again using the first clamp as a jig drilled holes so that I could bolt one strip to each side of the bracket. The top back corner was cut off to ensure it didn't foul the upright when removing it. The photo shows the bracket temporarily in place. Hardboard is quite flexible on its own so needs to be braced. The brackets are 12mm wide so I sourced some 12mm thick softwood to provide the "meat in the sandwich" which provides all the stiffness needed. Strips glued into position on one side. The short strip on the end will provide the fixing for the slot on fascia and needs to be absolutely square and flush with the end of both hardboard strips. A number of glued brackets weighted until thoroughly dry. and finally (for now) a completed bracket ready for the next stage. More to come soon ....

The first one is from early recollections of avidly reading RM in my youth - Marthwaite (David Jenkinson I think but stand to be corrected) Second would be Gainsborough Model Railway Society's Kings Cross to Leeds in 0 gauge - I operated Leeds station on many ocasions in my teens More recently Geoff Forster's, Penhydd

Thank you both. It is obviously a compromise when you have limited space and I'm not averse to anyone making comments or suggestions of this nature. I am not likely to take up your suggestion this time John as I was very keen to get as spacious a feel as I could in the small space that I have. An extra siding would take some of this away I feel and at this time I also have no appetite to start ripping up scenery and laying more track. I was well aware when I designed Much Murkle that the siting of the coal yard was probably not the best place along the siding, but if it was at the end of the siding then other goods traffic unloaded where the coal yard is now would have to exit the yard through the coal yard, not too desireable either I think. It also helps give a little more interest to the shunting being sited where it is. Also I have plenty of other things to be getting on with, not least the fascia and lighting rig. More of which soon...

Hi Andy Thanks for those comments, very kind of you. When researching I came across a number of photos of Cider Factory installations in the Hereford area in the early to mid 1900's including a staged photo in Bulmer's yard that was the inspiration for the loading dock in Rancoutt's yard. The shorter field grass is Woodland Scenics medium turf. The longer grasses are static grass, a mixture of spring and winter fibres from Mininatur. If I'm ever fortunate enough to get an exhibition invite I'll post the details here.

Hi Jim A good start to a great subject. The relationship between the engine shed and Carriage shed looks about right to me. Iain Rice included a plan of Hemyock in his book on Layout Design and they were quite close to each other. You appear to have planty of space for scenic development and it should make a wonderful layout. I look forward to seeing more.

Hi Jules I've just had a read through your thread and I'm impressed with the spacious feel you've created in what is obviously quite a small space. You've included some nice detail touches too, particularly the placing of the figures which are in very believable cameos. I like it a lot. Personally I wouldn't place a building in the field as I think you would lose some of the spacious feel but instead I would offer the suggestion to add some rougher vegetation and bushes along the length of the fences, more so on the field side of the track, to break them up and maybe a specimen tree either in the corner where the track bends or in the middle of the field itself (or both). I look forward to seeing what you eventually decide to do.

That video was taken quite a while ago when I was giving the electrics and auto uncouplers on the Cider factory / fiddle yard board a thorough test before starting the scenics.

Hi David I assume that you have a problem seeing the embedded video in post 10. The link you need to copy into your browser is www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7fCpwDSzqI

Thanks Jeff, I realise that photos always show up things that you just don't pick up under normal viewing conditions. No harm in striving to improve by a bit of self criticism though at times. Thank you Dave. I've just had a look at your layout thread for the first time and take your comment on my humble efforts as a great compliment. That's very kind of you to say so John and the same comment has been made on another forum I use. For me the biggest difficulties with home photography are a) the lighting. I can get good light onto the layout but have diffivculty avoiding harsh shadows, particularly on the backscene boards, and accepting the limitations of my camera to get good depth of field. Jim, I was a complete scenic novice when I started MM and had only limited experience of making building kits before constructing the Weighbridge Office which was my first scratchbuild. If I can do anyone can. Have you started your own layout thread as I would like to see how you progress?

I've just found this by following a thread about GWR yard cranes. What a superb layout, right up my street in lots of ways except maybe the era it's set in. That last photo gives a great sense of the railway serving a community, a very believable scene. I notice that it is quite a while since you posted anything on this thread. I didn't see the article in RM and wondered if there is any chance you will be posting more about Woodstowe at all? I'm sure that there would be lots of interest.

Thanks guys. It's interesting to hear your views on the photoshopped backgrounds. When I first saw the photos after the shoot I went 'WOW!" but the more I looked at them, I started to see the things that are not immediately noticeable, for example the lack of roads leading away from the bridges. Not so apparent on the lower shots though I agree. Perhaps I'm a little too close to it. One thing I will say though is that Trevor Jones does knows how to light a layout.

With the magazine article published two issues ago Hornby Magazine have very kindly allowed me to share Trevor Jones' photos with you including a few that didn't feature in the article. Please bear in mind that these are reproduced with Hornby's permission and copyright remains with them. Please bear in mind that the scenes do not reflect the normal operating practice at Much Murkle. Everything was placed at Trevor's instruction to get the shots he wanted to show the layout at it's best. At times there are 3 locos busy in the small station yard not a very prototypical situation !! The photoshopped sky looks good, but I'm not so sure about some of the ones with background scenes added some look good, others don't to my eye. It would appear Mike Wild had the same thoughts as most of those have not been used in the article. Hope you enjoy them.

An update to my reply to 'leavesontheline' post 41, I have just noticed that the RMweb archive is accessible again and for anyone interested I did document how the track was ballasted and weathered. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=43280&hilit=much+murkle It was interesting for me to look back and see how far Much Murkle has come since those humble beginnings.

Hi Artizen, thanks for your explanation and I think I follow it, the results certainly speak for themselves. I have no specialist camera or lighting equipment. My camera is a canon G11 and I'm slowly getting to grips with the manual settings. I've already realised that its main limitation is the f stop range only goes to f8. I took the photos in my garage which has two fluorescent strip lights directly over the back edge of the layout. I've supplemented this with two 400W halgen flood lights (sold as a workshop light) with the floods pointed at the white ceiling and the light bounced back down and that's it. The layout does not have its own lighting rig, yet. I'm in the process of designing the fascia and lighting and am thinking of daylight balanced fluorescent strips along the rear with small halogen spots cantilevered out at the front pointed back at the layout.

Now there's a challenge It was a long time ago since I laid the track. I've looked back through my photo archives, and can't find any photos that woiuld help in the explanation. By memory, the track was sprayed with Halfords red oxide before a couple of coats of Humbol track colour (I not sure but don't think this is available any more but there are alternatives) sprayed on with an airbrush. The track was then ballasted. When everything had set hard, a thin wash of track colour was then brushed onto the ballast. A little bit of black was then added to the ttrack colour wash and applied to the ballast between the rails around points and where locos frequently stand. Various shades of grey pastels have also been worked into the ballast at certain points to give some variation. Hope this helps. Not at all. Am I correct in thinking that you've cropped the bottom which was out of focus and sharpened the image slightly?

Hi Nick It took me quite a while to find something that represented apples in 4mm scale. This is how I finally managed it Poppy seeds are used to represent the apples. They can be bought in Supermarkets for topping bread etc. They are about 0.75mm diameter. Yes I did measure them. First off some sort of base was required for the pile of apples. I used an old rock face plaster casting that I had knocking around which I carved to round off some of the more angular edges. I could just have easily built up some card layers to achieve the same effect. I used neat pva laid on quite thickly and then pressed the seeds into it. Shake the excess off when completely dry and repeat if to cover any bald patches as often as necessary. To paint, I used acrylics and gave the whole lot a coat of a very yellowy green, and whilst still wet a thin wash of apple green. Just as the paint was drying I followed again with a very thin red dabbed on in small patches and then blended in with a dry brush. It took about less time to do than to explain. A couple of photos to help the explanation It's a bush Jeff

After having a bit of a running session I've worked out that I still need to build a few more cassettes, mainly for the engines, but I'm getting a bit of a rest from cassette building so I taken a few new photos. Hope you enjoy them. The local haulier Derek Dyer and Harold Bowman discuss tactics for the forthcoming Much Murkle versus Kempstone Annual Pocket Billiards challenge match. They are still at it in black and white 5531 prepares to pull away after taking on water Rancoutt's is busy today with vans from all four companies in evidence. The roof of the GW van on the far right looks like it needs some maintenance. A different view of the factory yard. Plenty of apples arriving After bringing the B set in, 3217 enters the loop to run around. A couple of cows show interest at what's going on over the fence. 5531 brings in the afternoon goods Having 'knocked off' at the end of the day the Platelaying Gang will be in trouble for not putting their tools away. Cheers

Much Murkle's panel is made out of an old biscuit tin. The track plan was drawn up using the MS Paint programme that comes with Windows and printed on glossy photo paper. Points are changed using a homemade stud and probe system. Power to the track circuits and point solenoids are taken via 25 pin D connectors. The red push buttons are elctromagnetic uncouplers.

I was looking into using plastic shrink wrap over the wire when my wife came home from work with a bag full of plastic coated wire coat hangers that had a much more flexible coating, so problem solved. I wrapped the ends in some thin foam and fixed it with a wrapping of insulation tape. Cheap and simple does the job. I've built some more cassettes and have also knocked up a storage rack for them. Cassettes built so far 4 x 600mm 1 x 1000mm 4 x 300mm I need to have a running session now and work through the sequence to find out how many more cassettes I need. Look out for some photos of running trials soon.

You did this AFTER a pub lunch. I could definitely see myself attempting what you've done Frank but the only result I would have after a visit to the pub would be burnt pinkies.

Thanks Craig I've been thinking of a way to stock the stock accidently being driven off the end or dropped of the end whilst handling the cassettes. After some thought I've come up with this, a piece of bent wire cut from an old wire coat hanger. Any springy wire would do though. The dimensions are to suit my cassettes but the most important one is to have the top slightly less wide than the width of the cassette and make sure that the two sides are the same length as each other. Drill two 3mm holes in the sides approx 15mm from the top and ends of the MDF Insert the short ends into the holes By making the dimension of the top of the wire slightly less than the overall width of the cassette it holds itself in place quite nicely in the open position. The closed position As you can see below it retains the stock just above the buffer level. This wire is plastic coated so won't cause a short across the connectors. Where I've bent it the plastic coating has cracked and broken off so to be on the safe side I am going to wrap some insulation tape around it as well. This would also be necessary if I have to use bare wire hangers for the other cassettes that I will need to do. At the same time I will try and wrap some thin foam around the end to protect the stock. A simple solution

Thanks for the kind comments. To answer Doug's question; no, I'm afraid that there will not be any extensions as the design doesn't lend itself to 'building - on'. I mentioned in my introductory post that I was in the process of redesigning the fiddle yard. I have been very unhappy with the cassettes that I hurriedly knocked up for Much Murkle's first outing to the MRG meet back in April and the subsequent Hornby article. One of the main problems with these was that my cutting was not accurate enough. A millimetre or two out of alignment made all the difference between good running and derailments and also unreliable power connection. I've finally redesigned them and got a friend of a friend who runs a joinery company to cut me some accurate strips of MDF for the new design. Aluminium angle and flat strip are used at the ends only for alignment and power connection. Stock will run on Peco track as before. The angle strip sandwiches the Peco sleepers and will therefore provide a consistent and accurate width for the cassette I've had enough cut to make up to 10 stock cassettes of lengths between 600 and 900mm and 10 loco cassettes of between 200 and 300mm. I doubt I will need this many but as I had to pay for a full sheet of MDF I thought that I might as well get the most out of it that I could. I've also designed a stable, free standing rack to sit on a table to store some of the cassettes and this has been pre cut as well. The main problem with the Mk1 cassettes was alignment. Due to my (only slightly) inaccurate cutting, the width of the cassettes varied by approx 2mm and slight variances in the centering of the rail only compounded the problem. This view shows the misalignment. It does look like one rail is in line and the other misaligned but the camera angle doesn't pick up that they are actually both slightly out of line. The other compounding problem that can be seen is that the sides are not square. All in all a problem for reliable running so they had to go. I can't take any credit for the design of the cassettes as they were copied from a thread on RMweb but I can't remember who's This is it's replacement I've completed two cassettes so far both 600mm long The loco cassettes will be seperate (and shorter). I haven't built any yet but they will join like this The two 600mm cassettes joined. This wouldn't happen in practice as the overhang is too great but you get the idea. I am currently building a 1000mm cassette that will slightly overhang the end which is for the quarry train. This one will not have a seperate loco cassette. As it is a self contained train and does not pick up other wagons when entering the station and being reversed it doesn't matter which way the couplings face, therefore the whole cassette can just be reversed each time. I need to work out my stock movements before building anymore cassettes but I will certainly need at least a couple more @ 600mm + some @ 750mm + cassettes for each of the locos and Railcar of between 200mm and 320mm. They work like a dream compared to the old ones Update: If you are looking here for ideas to construct cassettes. These worked much better than the original cassettes but after a dozen or so exhibitions these proved to be not robust enough. Fast forward to page 23 to find the mark 3 version cassettes which are proving to be more accurate and reliable.

Just been reading through your thread. What a wonderful layout you have. I have to say that I have a soft spot for green diesels

Thanks Tony, good to meet your acquaintance here as well. Hi Les My photography skills come more by luck than judgement. I have a Canon G11, tripod and in addition to the two fluorescent lights in the garage I have a workshop light which consists of two 500W halogen lamps mounted on a stand (£40 from Screwfix). Hence the strong shadows. The biggest problem with the Canon G11 is the depth of field as it will only go as far as F8. I do try hard to get good composition to the shots though.

Thanks Frank, it's taken me a while to take the plunge again here but I'm rather pleased that I have now. Go on, you know you want to I hadn't quite thought about how perceptions may have changed over time, thanks. As far as the video sound effects are concerned, the birds are real and so is the burp I meant to edit that out but forgot. Pleased you found it funny. Hi Dave, thanks Thanks to everyone else who have taken the trouble to post, it is appreciated. I'm cassette building at the moment but I'll take some more photos soon. In the meantime just to keep your interest here's a few more shots The first shot is from a while back taken shortly after the station building was fixed in place. The B Set has since been weathered and the couplings replaced with DG's Collect Goods arriving with loaded wagons from Much Murkle Quarry. All workings out of the quarry have to be reversed at the station loop adding to the traffic. Pannier leaves with the evening goods